I have avatars that are publicly available on one of my worlds, but as a “free” version that has stripped features. To unlock the extra features, they’d need to buy the full avatars from places like Gumroad or Jinxxy. Is there a way to link to a “free publically available version” for the avatars before they buy?
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Please either implement avatar search to VRchat or reverse this decision. Requiring creators to charge money to be listed in the store at all is just wrong.
You misread here. It doesn’t cost money for creators to be listed in the store, they just aren’t able to list free avatars.
This may benefit full avatar creators, but what about those of us who sell parts? As someone who makes custom hair, outfits, and textures, my store depends on platforms like Booth and Gumroad. This will pluck away at artists earnings, since a portion of the VRChat playerbase will no longer go to external websites for a customizable avatar. At the very least, please support avatar customization so we can continue selling these assets within the platform.
The current ecosystem doesn’t need the Avatar Marketplace. If you’re going to disrupt things, then you need to do it right and include more than just full avatars.
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I think it’d be better if we could get the files from the avatar we bought instead of going through a whole process
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If source files are contentious with both avatar creators and end users then it feels like it should be something that is optional (opt-in / out) within this system!
It doesn’t seem right that it’s just one way or the other based on initial interviews or discussions with a limited amount of creators.
As a creator, I do not want to sell anything to users if they can not access source files. Iteration and personalisation is something that’s not possible from within the game itself and is a huge part of avatar culture.
As it currently stands, from my perspective, what’s being proposed here is less than ideal for both creators and end-users:
- users have lack of ownership
- users have lack of customisation / personalisation
- creators cannot provide source files from the Marketplace itself
- creators are prohibited from advertising source files elsewhere (additional value for users!)
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After reading through this thread, I’m left with one question; why?
The new Avatar Marketplace doesn’t seem to me like a new and convenient way to get avatars. It seems like a solution to a non-problem. We already had a way to find avatars that we like, which is either by socializing or finding an avatar world, which there is no shortage of. My current avatar which I’ve been using mainly for months was found in public, for instance.
Avatars are one of the most important things in VRChat. It feels incredibly odd to provide a paid alternative to a system that didn’t really need to be changed, at least in my opinion. Maybe I’m just not seeing the vision, but to me it seems less like a pro-consumer choice made to better the platform, and more like a decision made for profit. I’m not against making money, I’m against pay-walling avatars.
Key points to address:
- Avatars cannot be sold for 0 credits, aka for free.
- Avatar source files for customization cannot be downloaded from the Marketplace, even optionally.
- Clarification of the purpose that this system will serve, while acknowledging how users could find avatars otherwise, as users have for so long.
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Note: I was not thinking about paid avatars/commissions when I wrote this. From that angle, this is a safer and sanctioned way of providing paid avatars to the users which seek them. But for players not willing to pay for an avatar, this system serves little to no purpose to them.
No, I read correctly, creators should be allowed to list free avatars. At least if and when source file download gets added. Creators of free bases have as much right to be listed in the marketplace as any other creator.
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Heyo!
I wanted to bring up the tooling side of the upcoming avatar sales system.
The in-game flow will be great for users who want to stay on the client and find content they like. I’m all for this. But this also seems locked down for creators who wish to offer more. I saw Fax say in a reply:
That’s valid, and it’s helpful to have access to that info. But I was more curious about automated tracking, such as a webhook, email, or even a unique transaction code. Ideally, I’d love to treat VRChat as the payment processor and marketer. Then, leave it up to the vendor to deal with CDN-related tasks.
Really, I’m just asking for a way to not rely on screenshots and Discord servers alone. I want to work in parallel with VRChat. To get the assets people pay for. And give them to the users if they wish for them.
I totally understand vrchat not wanting to deal with the CDN side of avatar files and Unity packages, and that’s fair. But I feel many creators would handle that burden themselves if we had the tooling.
Just hoping this can be considered.
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After some thought, I do agree that it’d be great if buyers had a way to submit proof‑of‑purchase to sellers so they can easily gain access to the source files if they were to buy through the marketplace. That way, they’d truly own their models instead of merely licensing them, kind of like certain aspects of the game industry, where you often only “license” a title rather than own it outright depending on the company’s practices and policies.
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I think that this system is a pretty neat idea, even if it needs some work. I do have a few thoughts tho.
Why not make a system where you can buy an avatar base from a creator, and then separately buy clothing for it from other people? Systems like VRCFury prove that doing this in a way that’s super simple for users and creators is doable, and has already been done.
Same goes for items. Again with the VRCFury example: all of this is doable and already being done!
And now for the thing I’m most concerned about: performance. The system basically ensures that avatars with the most amount of features, toys and outfits get sold and used the most. That sounds well and good, but this is terrible for performance! A system like what I or @Ericbazinga proposed would solve this issue.
Just please make sure you have some stricter performance limits for avatars in the Marketplace than in general. If someone doesn’t know how to upload an avatar in unity, they definitely don’t know why it’s a bad thing if the cool new avatar they buy uses 500mb of VRAM, half a milion polys, a grab pass and 80 Materials. How could it, look at how many features it has!
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To add on to this: the Avatar AddOn model also makes revenue shares fairer for everyone. It makes sure that the creator of the base, of the clothing and of the accessories and items each get paid their share.
It also makes the avatar more optimized (you can just load in the current outfit and unload any others, like it’s already done with different avatars) and it makes everything infinitely more customizable. Saw a cool jacket? Add it from the marketplace! Avatar missing GoGoLoco? Add it from the marketplace! Want one of Liindy’s or Pointless’s cool assets, easily and immediately? Add it from the marketplace!
(Just make sure that free items are also allowed on there. Please.)
I love this and always wanted it but surely since you have introduced the age verification system, having adults have access to nsfw avatars will be okay?
If there is worries about kids seeing these nsfw avatars you could maybe have it so either people without age verification cant see them so they’re considered “age verified avatars” or just a simple d.o.b (date of birth) at the start so people who put that they’re under 18 cant see them? I mean as you can imagine that d.o.b is easy to bypass but better than nothing.
Also if I put an avatar up for sale will it be as simple as reuploading to the same blueprint id to update or will it be more complicated than that? Would be great for easy updates to avatars.
Would love to know sooo much more!
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Yes! Currently, we only offer PayPal. But we’d love to offer bank payments in the future.
Not yet, no. That marketplace is only available in VRChat.
However, we are adding the following new features to the website:
- We’ve expanded the avatar details page.
- Creators can add gallery images, acknowledgements, tags, and more.
- Here’s an example: Flan Chibi
- Creators can add avatars to their world store.
- This allows you to buy avatars in world stores!
- Creators can even mix and match products - i.e. rewarding you with world benefits and unlocking avatars.
- We’ve added new menus to allow avatar creators to submit avatars for review.
Almost all avatars on the marketplace have a performance rank of “Poor” or better. We only accept “Very Poor” avatars on a case-by-case basis.
Some creators optimized their avatars to improve their performance rank! That was great to see.
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Given that 30% of the fee currently goes to “the platform” (Steam, Meta, Google, etc) why have “payments through the website” not been an option the whole time which would allow people to get 30% more for their money as there wouldn’t be a platform fee in those instances?
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Given that 30% of the fee currently goes to “the platform” (Steam, Meta, Google, etc) why have “payments through the website” not been an option the whole time which would allow people to get 30% more for their money as there wouldn’t be a platform fee in those instances?
I had mentioned this before myself. It should definitely be an option to buy vr credits from the vrc website, for people to bypass these fees. But if people really want the lazy option, it should be there too. Ideally people want the most value for as lazy as they can get it. But right now it’s the least value for the laziest.
But yeah, you’re absolutely right. Epic games won and continues to win that lawsuit with Apple. There’s no reason to not make it an optional way to purchase credits.
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I agree with you. They keep saying this marketplace was to empower creators but they won’t even allow them to advertise themselves.
Someone doesn’t want the source files? Great they can buy on the marketplace.
Someone wants the source files? Then It’s better to direct them to a platform that actually povides them rather than managing who bought your avatar on the market place and sending out the source files manually.
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Question. Will Creators be able to upload an avatar that would cost nothing to purchase to the Marketplace as a kind of Tech demo for their work? Something to help them get their name out there.
I have a question about that one line in the economy guidelines that’s making its rounds, “Don’t encourage users to purchase your content on another platform so they can gain access to source files”.
What does “encourage” mean? Would putting a general or vague statement in the product description something like “Avatar source files available on other storefronts” and leaving it at that be allowed? I would argue that’s informing, but does VRChat see that as “encouraging”?
I’m mostly concerned about making sure people are informed that if they want the files, they can find them elsewhere and make an informed decision themselves.
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Hello, if i can give my opinion, the reason i understood why third got closed is because it was directly competing with vrchat internal projects (marketplaces not announced yet, but timing is close). In comparason VRCX doesn’t compete at all with vrchat products.
Regarding the token canny, it’s related to a lot of things people asked for to use vrchat an an authentication system, to either use the user data or to run actions on accounts. And for that tupper actually gave a response recently, if you want to look at it A proper SSO, oauth2 and/or OIDC endpoint & Public VRChat API? - #31 by tupper
All of that, in my own opinion of course